How does terrorism work? Yuval Noah Harari writes the best analysis I have ever read on the subject. It’s all about exploiting a flaw in modern governance: “The legitimacy of the modern state is based upon its promise to keep the public sphere free of political violence… After centuries of bloody struggles, we have crawled out of the black hole of violence, but we feel that the black hole is still there, patiently waiting to swallow us again.”

An Italian man named Massimo was inspired to create a map showing the Pangea landmass with today’s political borders. This is a fascinating exercise in understanding the connections between shapes & terrains on the Earth, on both how they do, and do not, interconnect.

Connecticut near Morocco

When I was a child, I’d pore over maps & was fascinated by how the east coast of South America seemed to neatly mirror the west coast of Africa. I knew about tectonic plates, but this was before I’d heard of the ultimate origin of today’s landmasses.